September 04, 2012

A friend of mine shared this story about working with a business manager on a special project to change payroll processing companies for their firm.

“My task was to create a short list of companies so the business manager and I could request an interview with a rep. I created the list and decided to do a bit of research before contacting any of the companies. My research was to simply visit each applicable website.

"Turns out one of them had so many typos that I immediately deleted them from the short list. Perhaps I should have contacted someone to tell them about the numerous errors, but I suspected they probably wouldn’t care. After all, if they cared, there wouldn’t have been any typos – especially on their home page.

“My thought process was this: if their website is so grammatically messed up, what will they do with our payroll?!”

Besides the need for better writing skills and oversight, this story reinforces every touch point – whether in-person or online – makes an impression. If you don’t care about the quality of that impression, then don’t worry about sweating the small stuff.

How many companies would you recommend go back to school for Remedial Business?

Share the rationale and goals behind this initiative with employees – clearly explain what you're trying to do and why.

Communicate how Marketing’s efforts in relation to the program help support the firm’s overall mission and strategic plan – reinforce the message "we're all in this together" instead of contributing to the perception that Marketing creates extra work for people.

Get employee input, and be sensitive and responsive to how their work will be affected by this program.

Provide the necessary training (and any incentives, if appropriate) so staff can effectively support the initiative.

Once the initiative is up-and-running ...

You can’t just let it run its course and forget about it. As part of your monitoring efforts:

Stay in touch with what employees need to keep the program’s momentum going.

Share interim results and any fine-tuning that needs to be done and why.

Recognize and reinforce employees’ support of the initiative.

And when the program is over ...

Share final results and “lessons learned” – for example, what worked & why (to replicate success in the future ) and what didn't work & why (what to avoid and what to improve the next time)

Employees who deliver on the brand promise can make or break Marketing. That’s why we need to consider employees “upfront” when planning and implementing any marketing initiative – so they’ll work with us, not against us.

June 19, 2012

My recent post on How Marketers Sabotage Themselves raised the issue that marketers need to engage all employees who deliver on the brand, including those outside the Marketing Department.

To get employee buy-in, we need to break out of our silos and strengthen marketing’s relationship with employees; i.e., we need to do a better job of marketing “Marketing” within the firm. Here are a few ways we can accomplish this.

Participate in new employee orientation to explain how every employee has an important role in delivering the brand promise. If someone from Marketing is unable to attend, educate whoever is in charge of orientation to share this message.

Host a real or virtual "Open House" so non-marketing co-workers can get acquainted with Marketing and its resources. Invite key people from other departments to your staff meetings to learn what Marketing is doing and vice-versa.

May 08, 2012

I recently spoke to a group of marketers about our need to internally market the marketing function. Before we can begin to develop brand ambassadors or marketing champions, we need to engage ALL employees in what marketing does since each employee impacts delivery of the brand promise.

To better engage employees with our marketing programs, it’s important to understand how we inadvertently sabotage our own marketing efforts.

We fail to recognize thatmarketing is perceived as creating extra work for employees. I learned this lesson earlier in my career as a bank marketer. Whenever the Marketing Department would launch a new deposit promotion – offering gifts to customers for opening new accounts – most branch people were less than receptive. On top of their regular duties of meeting daily operational standards for efficient transaction processing, business development & sales goals, customer service standards and customer retention goals, we expected the tellers, customer service reps and branch managers to display, process, distribute and control inventory of whatever premiums that marketing had sent their way (stadium blankets, golf umbrellas, toaster ovens, VCRs, etc.). No wonder they wanted to bar the doors whenever they saw Marketing coming!

Just because the Marketing Department is part of the organizational chart doesn’t mean that employees know who we are and what we do. We forget that we need to continually educate others within the organization as to what Marketing really does … other than sitting around having a good time creating work for everyone else.

Our challenge is how do we engage employees who deliver on the brand when they have no clue as to what we really do and we have little/no authority over them?

As marketers we know how to develop and strengthen customer relationships; it’s not a stretch to apply this skill set to develop and strengthen employee relationships. But we’re so busy taking care of everyone else’s marketing needs that we neglect our own.

In what other ways does marketing sabotage itself? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experience on this topic.

May 01, 2012

“Great news!” said the young woman who called me after attending one of my marketing workshops. With a background in graphic design, she was responsible for advertising, special events, and employee communications for a group of physicians in a multi-specialty medical practice. “My boss agreed to start a formal marketing function, and he wants me to head it up,” she explained. “Help!”

Where to begin

I shared her excitement, enthusiasm, and even a bit of panic. “First, take a deep breath,” I advised her. “Now, tell me about your company’s most pressing marketing needs.” We discussed these to start to prioritize them and get a realistic perspective of what could be achieved given her status as a one-person marketing department.

Beyond Marketing 101

Since there are plenty of books available on how-to-do marketing and how-to-write-a-marketing-plan, her concern was really how to be effective in developing a formal marketing function that would be accepted and respected within the group practice. My advice centered on four areas.

Focus. Prepare to discuss the practice’s critical marketing needs with key internal stakeholders – in this case, physicians and administrators. Then get their agreement on selecting no more than three priorities that will receive most of marketing’s attention.

Build Relationships. Cultivate and nurture relationships with marketing-related providers – printers, media reps, research suppliers, promotional sales reps, web designers, direct mail firms, etc. At the same time, develop and maintain relationships with marketing partners inside the practice. Educate and communicate with physicians, nursing staff, and administrators so they know and understand what marketing is doing and why (i.e., explain the rationale and goals of marketing’s strategy), including how individually and collectively they impact the brand based on their interactions with patients, families, hospitals, and the community-at-large.

Manage Expectations Carefully. Once people within the practice know about the marketing department, everyone will have a laundry list of things they want marketing to do for them. So it’s important to manage organizational expectations of marketing – its goals, capabilities, limited resources, deadlines, etc. – upward (among management) as well as laterally (between and within the practice specialties). Stay focused on marketing’s top priorities [see Focus above] to keep from being overwhelmed with marketing requests.

Make Time for Professional Development. It’s not easy to do it all as a one-person marketing department. Which is why it’s even more important to continue learning how to be a better marketer. Some of this knowledge can be gained by investing in formal development – taking classes, webinars, reading, etc. And some of it can be obtained via networking with other professionals in the field. Try to learn how they manage their marketing functions and how they handle marketing challenges, including being creative with limited resources. This networking can be invaluable for sharing ideas and coping strategies with other marketers and using them as sounding-boards. Whether over the phone, over a meal, over coffee or a more potent beverage, it’s also helpful to know that others have survived similar challenges.

Special Note: This advice is applicable to other organizations. Identify the internal and external stakeholders who are important to your organization and insert them to replace the physicians, administrators and other segments mentioned above.

February 21, 2012

As a business professional specializing in employee-customer care, I know many companies tout the “Ten Foot Rule” of Customer Service – whenever employees come with ten feet of a customer, they’re supposed to stop what they’re doing and give their full attention to that customer.

As a consumer, I also know that many employees have their own version of this rule – they try to steer clear of coming within ten feet of a customer. And if they do get close, they avoid eye contact and turn in the other direction. Sadly, some employees also observe this practice with fellow employees who are their “internal” customers.

Forget the excuses for bad customer service. The bottom line is the ten foot rule and other prescribed practices won’t be effective when simply issued as top-down edicts. Organizations that want their employees to serve customers in this way need to provide the training, tools, and reinforcement (including measurement and reward) that enable and encourage effective customer service.

It’s something to think about. How do employees apply the ten foot rule in your organization: do they step up to serve customers or do they turn tail and hide?

QSM: Let's start with how business blogging has evolved over the past eight years. What are the biggest changes you've seen during this time period?

Toby: One of the current challenges I’m seeing is that with the ease and ubiquity of social networks, people are concerned if blogs are still a valid initiative in terms of longevity of the tool. In other words, are blogs on their way out? No marketer wants to invest time in a tactic that will be here today and gone tomorrow.

With blogs the challenges that we faced when businesses first stepped into the blogosphere are still the challenges that many face today. Blogs and social media frequently impact the dynamics of an organization and its culture. We’ve learned that creating an internal structure that supports and integrates social media is not nice to have but critical. How that is developed depends on the enterprise, but the first step should be creating company-wide “bumper” guidelines. (These are guidelines for simplicity that help people to not fall over the edge when creating content or responding to comments.)

How to create and manage communications that are based on what I call “selfless content,” instead of marketing messaging, is often a new direction for traditional marketers. The challenge is how to tell the story of the brand - including the people who are the brand (employees and customers) - through relevant, value-added content.

QSM: With all the content competing for attention in social media space, does business blogging still make sense?

Toby: Here’s the marketer’s response: it depends. It depends on several factors, starting with can a blog support your business/marketing goals and objectives?

Social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and even LinkedIn have capitalized on our society’s short attention span. While “short” posts and updates are fast to write (and to read), blogs offer an opportunity to explore issues in more depth. There is no better way to establish, reinforce and sustain thought-leadership positioning.

Keep in mind that with social networks you don’t “own” the platform ... you’re a “renter” which means you must abide by the rules of the network. Although Facebook allows for branded pages, with the others following suit, you are still at the mercy of another company’s vision. If you own the blog software, however, you have full control of branding, content guidelines and how you’ll manage customer relationships.

QSM: Since this blog is about internal marketing & communications, please share your thoughts on how blogging, tweeting and other forms of social media have affected organizational communications and engagement.

Toby: As I mentioned before, blogs and social media are catalysts for internal organizational change. The new open communication among people in the enterprise demands that new cross-functional communication systems are established among departments and business units. The exciting result is that social media can be a great team builder.

Social media opens the door for all employees, not just those in marketing, to understand the brand values and promise at a “DNA” level. In order to make that happen takes commitment from management, training and continuous sharing of strategic direction. At the end of the day people know each other better, know the company better and go out into the social world with confidence as brand champions.

QSM: And who doesn’t want to foster brand champions these days? Thank you, Toby, for reinforcing the value of business blogging. As my blog & social media mentor, you get the first slice of my blog anniversary cake!

June 07, 2011

This is a special post that pays public tribute to one of my mentors, Dr. Stephen W. Brown. Steve recently retired from Arizona State University as a well-respected marketing professor, researcher, and founder of the Center for Services Leadership in ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business.

Before I tell you how I met Steve, here’s a bit of background. Steve Brown is internationally known for his pioneering research and thought leadership in services marketing and management, service recovery, and building a service mindset in product-dominated companies. He is a founder of the Center for Services Leadership (CSL) which he helped grow to become one of the premier centers of research and education in services marketing and management. (I highly recommend CSL’s annual Compete Through Service Symposium and Services Leadership Institute. ) As a result of his research and leadership contributions to the field, Steve received numerous international and university-wide recognition, including honorary doctorates from Finland's HANKEN School of Economics and Sweden's Karlstad University.

Mentor, Advisor, and Sounding Board

I feel privileged to have learned so much from Steve even though I was never in one of his classrooms. I first met Steve in 1983 when he was President-Elect of the American Marketing Association. I was newly elected to the AMA Board of Directors and learned a lot from Steve’s leadership style. He laid out an inspiring vision for the marketing association based on the profession’s growth and its role in the emerging field of services marketing and customer satisfaction. Shortly before I took office as AMA Chair-Elect in 1996, I met with Steve to gain insight on leading the association.

My career path closely followed the growth of services marketing as a new field, and Steve was most generous in sharing his research and helping me learn about this new discipline. I also reached out to Steve for advice before I launched my business as a services marketing consultant (more than 20 years ago) and when I wrote my first book on internal marketing.

I am fortunate to have benefited from his guidance and friendship. And I am only one of many students and marketing professionals who have been helped by this man throughout his distinguished career. How lucky for us that in your new role as Emeritus Professor, you'll continue to be involved with the Center for Services Leadership.

Thank you, Dr. Stephen W. Brown, for giving so much of your time to teach, guide, and inspire. Best wishes in your well-deserved retirement!

May 31, 2011

A major challenge for most business professionals is mastering the art of the elevator speech – a three minute (or less) introduction that tells people who you are, what you do, and why they should consider doing business with you. I’ve spent many years trying to craft the perfect elevator speech; for me it’s become an ongoing work-in-progress.

Of all the “how-to” books and blog posts I’ve read on this topic to date, Sjodin’s book is one of the most helpful. She describes different types of elevator speeches and the different ways you can use them. She then outlines a practical process to help people craft their own concise messages, including language mechanics such as “speech supports” and “rhetoric devices.” While Sjodin’s explains each step with examples and sample worksheets, it all came together for me at the end of the book where she illustrates the complete process. I also found value in the last chapter entitled “Nuggets of Advice and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions.”

So, have I perfected my elevator speech as a result of reading this book? Not quite yet … but I will get there using the insight and tools shared in Small Message, Big Impact.